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Author Tolstoy's Book
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Anna Karenina
There are two big, fairly equal plots in "Anna Karenina". First of them, mostly known, is the story about Anna Karenina who falls in love with Count Vronsky, leaves her family and runs slowly into catastrophy. The second plot, however, taking a little more space in this book, is the story about count Levin, his internal struggle with religion, and his pursuit of his everyday work at his farm. ...Resurrection
Dmitry Nekhlyudov, a nobleman, is summoned to serve on the jury in criminal court. As the prisoners brought in, he is shocked to recognize one of them: a woman he once loved. Katusha was a common girl raised by Nekhlyudov's rich aunts; she was only sixteen when Nekhlyudov had seduced her during one of his visits. She had gotten pregnant and gave birth to a child who later died in a hospital for foundlings. Nekhlyudov had no intention to marry Katusha. He...The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Ivan Ilyich, a respected lawyer and jurist, is dead. His colleagues make all the right sounds, but can't help wondering how his death will affect their careers. We go back over his life, see how Ivan did all the right things, played the various social and professional games with the proper amount of seriousness, until he realized the gnawing pain in his side was mortal. Then he went through all the stages of denial, terror, rage at his friends and loved ...War and Peace
This is a massive book: both in length, and scope. It's a chronicle of two or three decades of several families and interrelated characters in Russia. There is a main character (Count Bezhuov), but he is the main character by default, because there are so many characters to which so much time is devoted. The story has so many facets that a main plotline can't be given. It goes into every aspect of life in Moscow and St. Petersburg society, as well as...